Online Auto Insurance Comparisons
In the past, Auto insurance companies have banked on the simple fact that when it comes time for a customer to renew their auto insurance policy, most consumers are either too busy or too lazy to compare auto insurance quotes.
Speaking for the lazy masses, I always thought about looking at other insurance companies when I paid my premium, but it seemed like it would be so much work for too little savings. Well, as 2010 approaches, the insurance companies have moved forward and developed new systems to ease the burden behind the online automobile insurance quote.
While it was true that comparing auto insurance quotes was a time consuming process, the internet has significantly reduced this time and any insurance company that wants to stay in business is online. These two facts can add up to big savings for consumers, but before you venture out to get your online quotes make sure and have the following information handy;
- Your current policy – You will not be able to make a fair cost comparison without knowing what your current policy is covering.
- The make and model of the vehicles you want insured
- The names and birthdays of the drivers
I recently compared auto insurance quotes for my cars. After doing 4 comparison quotes I found that I could save a little over $400 a year. I even went back to my current insurance company and got a new quote, it turns out their quote was very close to the one I already own.
You will find different insurance companies offer similar, but not necessarily an equal quality online quoting processes.
For example, if you have more than one automobile it’s easy to miss the opportunity to “Add Another Vehicle” on the form seen below, I just hit what appeared to be the obvious “Next” button without seeing the dull looking “Add Another Vehicle”. This caused me to have to go back and re-enter information.
A much better solution would be the screen shot from another online quoting system below.
There are other differences as well and these are mostly "Usability Issues", all of the companies produced a printable auto insurance quote in the end and all needed an email address to complete the quote. Some companies required my phone number (which I lied about) and others, who are more realistic, asked for my phone number but didn't make me provide it to receive my quote.
Out of the four insurance companies that I received my online auto quote on, Geico stands out for a few reasons.
